


Diate of Gonnecticrut 


PRELIMINARY REPORT 


OF THE 


PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 


1911 


PoP aeA Aire, 
NRA ap, Oa 





Diate of Gonnecticrut 


PRELIMINARY REPORT 


OF THE 


PusLic UTILITIES COMMISSION 


TO 


THE GOVERNOR 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1911— DrcremBer 31, 1911 


PRINTED BY ORDER OF THRE LEGISLATURE 





HARTFORD 
PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 
JUNE, 1912 


PUBLICATION 


APPROVED BY 


Tuer Boarp oF ConrTrROL 


The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Printers, Hartford, Conn. 


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PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 
- STATE OF CONNECTICUT 


PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE PUBLIC 
UTILITIES COMMISSION 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1911 — DecemBer 31, 1911 


To His Hacellency 
Simeon E. Batpwin, 
Governor of Connecticut. 

The Public Utilities Commission is required to make an 
Annual Report to the Governor on or before the first day of 
December in each year, but as the law creating the Commission 
did not go into effect, and the Commission did not take office 
= until September 9, 1911, the first Annual Report will not be 
© made until on or beforé December 1, 1912. The Commission, 
. however, deems it proper iat this time to make a preliminary 
report of its organization and a brief summary of its official 
proceedings for the period ending December 31, 1911, which 
will be supplemented in the first Annual Report of the Com- 


mission. 


ion 4 K [Mera ’ : 


J 
ORGANIZATION. 
The members of the Commission, consisting of Richard T. 


Higgins, Theodore B. Ford, and John H. Hale, received the 


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oath and assumed the duties of office on September 9, 1911. 
The Commission organized by electing Richard T. Higgins 
Chairman, appointing Henry F. Billings Secretary, and em- 
ploying Charles C. Elwell as Chief Engineer and Inspector. 
The Commission received and took possession of all the books, 
records, and other papers of the Railroad Commissioners, to- 
gether with the rooms in the Capitol theretofore occupied by 
the Railroad Commissioners. 

Upon investigation and inquiry of the Inspector General 
of gas meters and illuminating gas, it was learned that there 
was no record kept by or return made from that office, and no 
books, records, apparatus, or paraphernalia to be turned over 
to this Commission. 

The Comptroller upon request for larger quarters, which , 
should be for the exclusive use of the Commission, has furnished 
two additional rooms, making in all a suite of four rooms on 
the third floor of the Capitol, appropriately furnished, with 
one room designed and fitted up for public hearings. 

The Commission is arranging a systematic record and filing 
system and is negotiating for the necessary apparatus for mak- 
ing meter tests, as required by law. 

The present permanent working force of the Commission 
is as follows: Commissioners, Secretary, Chief Engineer and 
Inspector, Accountant and three Stenographers, who also per- 
form general clerical duties. All employees of the Commission ’ 
are engaged solely upon the grounds of necessity, qualifications, 
fitness, and honesty, without regard to personal friendship or 
political affiliations. : 


PROCEEDINGS. 


The work of the Commission has thus far been so largely 
initial and covers so short a period of time that only a brief 
summary of its official proceedings will be made in this pre- 
liminary report. 

Some difficulty has been experienced in obtaining an ac- 
curate and complete list of the active public service corpora- 
tions in the State coming under the jurisdiction of this Com- 


5 


mission, owing to the merger or abandonment without record 
of some of the chartered companies. 
The list made up at the date of this report is as follows: 


Steam Railroad Companies, : ; : ‘ 7 

Street Railway Companies, . F : : F 13 

Telephone Companies, . : : : : : 2 
Telegraph Companies, . 

‘ Express Companies, ‘ : : 1 

Water, Gas, and Electric Light Comipeate Se 179 

Making in all, : . ; é ; : 204 


The water, gas, and electric light companies are combined 
in this report, as a number of these individual companies are 
engaged in furnishing two or more of the above utilities and 
a reliable subdivision has not yet been made. 

A copy of Chapter 128 of Public Acts of 1911, being an 
Act concerning the Regulation and Supervision of Public Ser- 
vice Corporations, has been sent to all the known public service 
corporations, together with instructions for reporting accidents 
as required under the provisions of said Act. 


INSPECTION OF STEAM RAILROADS. 


The annual inspection of the steam»roads made by the Chief 
Engineer and Inspector for the Commission between October 
4, 1911, and November 23, 1911, was characterized with un- 
usual thoroughness and care. All bridges, abutments, and the 
approaches thereto were carefully examined and defects 
wherever appearing noted and instructions given to the com- — 
pany to correct. The roadbed, rails, ties, bridges, and abut- 
ments were, as a whole, found in good condition. All stations, 
freight houses, and station toilets were examined and in many 
instances the sanitary conditions of the toilets were found to 
be objectionable. These objectionable features are being im- 
proved and will be followed up with a view to having all sta- 
tions kept in a clean and sanitary condition. 


6 


ACCIDENTS. 

The law requires public service companies to report all 
accidents attended with personal injury or involving public 
safety, which were, or may have been, connected with or due 
to the operation of its plant or equipment, or caused by contact 
with its wires, and requires the Commission to examine into 
the cause of and the circumstances connected with all fatal 
accidents and such other accidents as in its judgment shall re- 
quire investigation. The companies in reporting all accidents 
include the very minor and trivial accidents and injuries occur- 
ring daily and which are necessarily incident to railroad ,and 
other hazardous operation. 

There have been reported to the Commission 870 accidents, 
54 of which were fatal. The Commission has investigated, 
including the fatal aceidents, 57 cases, making in each case a 
record of the causes, facts, and circumstances of each accident. 

In the following cases, orders, recommendations, or sug- 
gestions were made: 

On October 10, 1911, an electric train, operating between 
Middletown, Berlin, and Meriden, on the New York New 
Haven and Hartford Railroad, collided with a switch engine 
in the yard of said company at Middletown due to causes in- 
volving the signal system then in use. 

The company was requested to submit a plan of signals, 
for approval. of the Commission, which would more adequately 
protect trains of steam railroad and electric railway. 

On October 14, 1911, a collision occurred at Berlin Junce- 
tion on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad be- 
tween a passenger train operating between New Britain and 
Berlin Junction, and freight cars which had broken away from 
others in a train being moved from New Britain to Berlin, re- 
sulting in the death of the engineer of the passenger train and 
another man who was on the engine at time of collision. The 
Commission requested the New York, New Haven and Hartford 
Railroad Company to prepare and submit a plan to and for 
the approval of the Commission which would so locate the tracks 


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of the Berlin-New Britain Branch at Berlin Junction as to 
bring the terminus of said tracks in a line practically parallel 
with the main line of said company at said point instead of at 
right angles, and recommended that a certain rule of the com- 
pany be changed or amended so that yardmen would have no 
excuse for backing any cars down the grade between New 
Britain and Berlin. 

On October 22, 1911, a collision occurred near Park Street 
Bridge in the City of Hartford on the line of the New York, 
New Haven and Hartford Railroad between a work train and 
a regular passenger train. Work was being done on said bridge 
which made it necessary for both north and south bound trains 
to use a single track, over said bridge, known as a gauntlet, 
and making it necessary for one train to stop before entering 
on the single track line, provided two trains arrived at a certain 
point at practically the same time. Certain signals were erected 
to govern the movement of trains, but in the opinion of the 
Commission, additional cautionary signals should have been 
furnished, and therefore the company was requested to sub- 
mit a plan for approval which would improve the signal service 
and eliminate the danger at all points where it was found neces- 
sary to establish a gauntlet. 

On November 15, 1911, an employee of The Connecticut 
Company was killed at New London by receiving an electric 
shock while attempting to use a telephone on a private line of 
said company, running from Norwich to New London, by reason 
of the telephone wires being crossed by an electric light wire in 
Norwich. 

The telephone which was being used was not protected 
against dangerous currents. As a preventative of similar ac- 
cidents, it was recommended that electric light and telephone 
wires be hung and maintained in such a manner as to reduce 
the liability of contact between them to a minimum and that 
telephones of The Connecticut Company on exposed circuits 
be equipped with protectors acceptable to the Commission. 


8 


On December 2, 1911, a trainman of the New York, New - 
Haven and Hartford Railroad Company was killed in the yard 
of said company at Putnam, by being thrown from a freight 
car which was being switched, in consequence of coming in con- 
tact with a switch stand. 

To provent accidents of a similar nature, it was recom- 
mended that this particular switch stand be relocated or the 
adoption of a smaller stand which would give a sufficient clear- 
ance to allow yard trainmen to perform their regular work in 
safety. 

On December 8, 1911, a collision occurred in the Water 
Street yard of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail- 
road Company at New Haven, resulting in the death of a train- 
man. From the facts obtained in the investigation of this 
accident it was apparent that it occurred from a combination of 
circumstances, two of which were the close spacing of trains 
and the misinterpretation of a hand signal given by a towerman 
in charge of signals, which brought the train collided with to a 
sudden stop. 

It was suggested, as an extra precaution to regular or extra 
east bound trains using the track on which the collision occurred, 
an efficient flagging by hand or the use of a dwarf signal which 
could be thrown up by the towerman and held in a stop posi- 
tion behind east bound trains until they had passed out of the 
block near Chapel Street in said City. 


The investigation of accidents is an important line of work 
in connection with the Commission’s duties as it brings specif- 
ically to the attention and knowledge of the Commission each 
fatal and serious accident together with the causes thereof, and 
affords an opportunity from practical observations to make 
recommendations or orders which will prevent the re-occurrence 
of such accidents, when the same are found to be due to the 
improper service or defective plant or equipment of the 
company. 

Realizing the importance of obtaining the absolute facts 
from which the record of the causes, facts, and circumstances 
may be made and upon which recommendations or orders may 


9 


be predicated, the Commission has assumed a broad latitude 
in the investigation of accidents and has adopted, by a con- 
ference ruling, what at present seems to the Commission to be 
a fair and necessary policy in obtaining and preserving the 
most direct and reliable information. (A copy of said con- 
ference ruling is appended to this report). 


COMPLAINTS AND PETITIONS. 


A large proportion of the complaints have been in the nature 
of informal communications which have been taken up by the 
Commission and in practically every case where the com- 
plainant had any justification, a satisfactory adjustment has 
been made. Among the most important of the formal petitions 
heard are the following: 

1. Petition of the City of Bridgeport and others for relief 
from the high steps on trolley cars. This matter was inves- 
tigated very thoroughly by the Commission and on December, 
30, 1911, the following, decision was rendered: 

“The company, at the hearings, conceded the objectionable 
features of the high step, and offered as a possible tentative 
solution a plan requiring two steps or a double folding step on 
the side entrance, open, double truck cars, as the best solution 
the company had been able to arrive sat, but one which it feared 
was liable to have objectionable features in the way of acci- 
dents to passengers alighting from cars. 

“From the evidence submitted and from personal inquiry 
and investigation on the part of the Commission, it is apparent 
that some relief should be afforded to the public from the present 
indefensible high step, especially on double truck open cars 
put in service during the season of 1911. 

“The high step evil has been a gradual growth due to larger 
ears, higher wheels, demand for greater speed and increased 
space required from the top of the rail to the bottom of the 
car body for the wheels, motor, brake rods, and clearance. 

“ The Connecticut Company has been gradually adopting a 
type of car constructed upon plans made and.submitted by the 
company to car manufacturers, which is designed more es- 


10 


pecially for speed and earrying capacity than for the comfort 
and safety of the traveling public in boarding and _ alighting 
from the car, which latter essential requirement seems to have 
been overlooked; but the company, apparently realizing its 
error, has exhibited a disposition to overcome the objections 
and has rendered material assistance to the Commission in 
trying to arrive at a proper solution. 

“ During the past year The Connecticut Company put in 
service about seventy new double truck open cars with side 
entrance. The floors of these cars are approximately forty-one 
and one-half inches above the top of the track rail, with one 
“running board” step. The first step, measured from the top 
of the track rail to the top of the step, is twenty-two ‘and three- 
fourths inches; from the step to the floor of the car, eighteen: 
and three-fourths inches. The first step is reduced from, one 
to two inches when car is loaded and is liable to be reduced to 
a maximum of two and one-half inches after a sufficient length 
of time in service, due to relaxation of springs and wearing of 
wheels. 

“On center locations of single track line where highways 
are crowned and on suburban lines where highways are not 
paved, the ground is liable to be from one to four inches below 
the top of the rail, thus adding to the elevation of the first step. 

“‘ On the double truck closed cars now in service, the steps are 
found to vary as follows: first step, above top of track rails, from 
sixteen to twenty inches; from first step to platform or vesti- 
bule, fifteen to eighteen inches; from platform to floor of car, 
nine and one-half to ten and one-half inches. 

“The very high step is decidedly inconvenient for pas- 
sengers if not in fact injurious to the health and endangering 
the safety of the traveling public. 

“The Connecticut Company has in service on its lines in 
Connecticut, the following: 


468 Double truck open cars. 
578 Double truck closed cars. 
419 Single truck open cars. 
281 Single truck closed cars. 


A total of 1,746 cars. 


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These cars cost from four to six thousand dollars apiece, de- 
pending on.the type, and the remedy naturally involves the re- 
equipment rather than the displacement of so large an amount 
of the company’s rolling stock. 

“The facts submitted to the Commission leave some doubt 
as to the best plan to adopt. It is found impossible to very 
materially lower the body of the car with the present under- 
frame and equipment and leave sufficient clearance, though a 
readjustment of the brake rod and some other minor changes 
of the under equipment might be made at a moderate expense 
and lower the body of the car from one to two inches.» On the 
open side entrance car the two-step or folding-step plan seems 
to be: the most feasible, though possessing the possible element 
of danger to passengers alighting from the car and the possibly 
greater danger in narrow city streets of obstructing public travel 
on the highway, as the double folding step would extend four 
and one-half inches into the highway beyond the present * run- 
ning board’ step. 

“The double folding step has been used with satisfactory 
results, apparently, in Albany, New York, for the past ten 
years; on the line from Northampton to Greenfield, Massa- 
chusetts, for the past four years; and on The Connecticut Com- 
pany’s line in the Hartford Division, known as the Farming- 
ton Street Railway Company’s line, for the past few years. 
These are only a few of the places where the two-step side- 
entrance cars are in use, 

“The Commission feels that the public should have some 
immediate relief, not only in Bridgeport, but all over the State, 
from the present objectionable high step, but, owing to the un- 
certainty and doubtful complete success of the remedy applied, 
we do not feel warranted at this time in passing an order re- 
quiring and putting the company to the very large expense of re- 
equipping and readjusting all its cars on a plan which future 
experience and use may prove an unsatisfactory adjustment. 
But if the plan adopted at the present time proves successful, 
the order may later be made general and applicable to other 
companies which would be affected thereby. We deem it in 


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the interest of public convenience and safety at this time to 
pass the following order: 

“(1) The Connecticut Company is hereby ordered and 
directed to equip and adjust with easy double folding steps 
of the same or practically the same type as exhibited to the 
Commission by Mr. Punderford, the General Manager of The 
Connecticut Company, on December 12, 1911, at least fifty 
per cent. (50%) of all its double truck open cars; that is, at 
least two hundred thirty-four (234) cars, which shall include 
all the double truck open cars put in service during the season 
of 1911; the first or bottom step of such double folding step to 
be not more than sixteen (16) inches above the top of the track 
rail; the second step to be not more than thirteen (13) inches 
above the top of the first step and not more than thirteen inches 
below the top of the floor of the car body; one-half of said two 
hundred and thirty-four cars to be equipped with such double 
folding step on or before June 1, 1912, and the remaining one- 
half to be so equipped and this order fully complied with on or 
before July 1, 1912. 

(2) The Connecticut Company is hereby ordered and 
directed to relocate and readjust on all its double truck open 
cars the “ grab handle’, so-called, at the end of each seat, by 
extending and lowering the same on the side posts as much as 
possible and still retain the present castings, for the convenience 
of passengers boarding and alighting from the car, the same to 
be done and completed and this order complied with on or before 
July 1, 1912. 

“(3) The Connecticut Company is hereby ordered and 
directed to rearrange and relocate the steps on all its double 
truck closed cars, as follows: Where the underframe and equip- 
ment construction will admit of so doing, the top of step to be 
not more than fifteen (15) inches above the top of the track 
rail and not more than thirteen (13) inches below the platform 
or vestibule floor; and on all other double truck closed cars the 
top of step to be not more than sixteen and one-half (1614) 
inches above the top of track rail and not more than fifteen 
and one-half (1514) inches below the platform or vestibule 


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floor. As nearly all of the closed cars are now in active service, 
the work will have to be done gradually in order not to incon- 
venience travel by lack of cars, and the company is given until 
October 1, 1912, in which to complete said work and fully 
comply with this order, with the understanding, however, from 
statements made by Mr. Punderford, General Manager of The 
Connecticut Company, that the work of readjusting the steps 
on closed cars will begin immediately and be prosecuted as 
rapidly as possible without interfering with the service. 

“(4) The Connecticut Company is hereby ordered and 
directed to place grab handles, so-called, on the bulkheads of 
all its double truck closed cars, which are not now so equipped, 
for the convenience of passengers boarding and alighting from 
ears, on or before October 1, 1912. 

“* (5) In view of the difficulty of readjusting steps and over- 
coming other possible objections on the cars already constructed 
and in service, the Commission recommends and requests The 
Connecticut Company, before ordering new cars in future, to 
submit plans thereof to the Commission for its approval.” 


On September 11, 1911, Herbert O. Bowers, and four- 
teen other persons, petitioned asking that the trolley fare 
charged by The Connecticut Company between Manchester 
and Hartford be reduced from fifteen to ten cents. Various 
hearings have been held in this case. The Commission re- 
quested the company to furnish a large number of reports and 
records, which has been done, and the matter is still pending 
awaiting the arguments on January 26, 1912, of the attorneys 
representing the town and the railway company. 

On September 26, 1911, upon petition of the Board 
of Trustees of The Connecticut Colony for Epileptics, to be 
located in the Town of Mansfield, we approved the construction 
and authorized the maintenance and operation of a side track 
at grade across the main highway between Willimantic and 
Stafford, said track to be connected with that of the New Lon- 
don Northern Railroad Company. 

On October 26, 1911, upon petition of the City of 
Danbury, we ordered The New York, New Haven and Hart- 


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ford Railroad Company to extend the hours of operation of 
gates at Wildman Street crossing in said city, and required that 
a flagman be provided at said crossing when switching was be- 
ing; done over same during such hours as the gates were not in 
operation. 

On November 14, 1911, we approved of modified plans 
presented by The New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail- 
road Company for a new bridge over the tracks of said com- 
pany at Ferry Street, in the City of New Haven. We deter- 
mined the length, width, plan, and height of said bridge as 
required by statute, approved of proposed changes in grade of 
Ferry Street and Middletown Avenue in connection with the 
construction of said proposed bridge, of the discontinuance of 
certain parts of two triangular pieces of highway, and of. the 
taking of certain parcels of land. 

We ordered that a temporary foot-bridge be maintained dur- 
ing the construction of said bridge, provided the City of New 
Haven would agree to pay one-fifth and The Shore Line Elec- 
tric Railway Company, whose tracks are to be laid across said 
bridge when completed, two-fifths, of the cost of construction 
and maintenance of said foot bridge. We understand this pro- 
vision has been acquiesced to by the municipality and the rail- 
way company. 

The cost of the new highway bridge was aaa to be paid 
by the railroad company, except a sum of $2,750.00, which the 
Shore Line Electric Railway Company agreed to pay by reason 
of an additional estimated cost of the structure to make the 
same of sufficient strength to carry the tracks and cars of said 
company. 

On November 25, 1911, a petition presented through a 
resolution of the Common Council of the City of Bridgeport, 
asking that the electric car service of The Connecticut Company 
on Barnum Avenue in said City be extended to a point known 
as Bruce’s Brook, a distance of about one-half mile, was denied. 
This matter was very carefully considered. The Commission 
visiting the location and finding that the number of people 
located within the territory in question to be accommodated 


15 


was comparatively small, we did not feel warranted in order- 
ing the service extended. 
CONCLUSION. 


The work of the Commission covers a new field of State 
supervision and regulation of public service corporations, and 
it will naturally take some little time both for the Commission 
and the companies to thoroughly systematize the work and sat- 
isfactorily adjust all the legitimate or meritorious complaints 
that may be made. 

The policy of the Commission in handling informal com- 
plaints by first taking them up direetly with the company im an 
informal manner,, resulting in a satisfactory adjustment of 
practically all meritorious cases will, in our opinion, work a 
gradual improvement and a more satisfactory public service. 

In closing this report we are pleased to state that all public 
service corporations have shown an agreeable disposition to 
co-operate with the work of the Commission and to fully com- 
ply with all suggestions, recommendations, and orders made. 


Respectfully submitted, 


Mw orl LKayget, 


MRC a 
ee ae 


Public Utilities Commission 


APPHNDIX. 


CONFERENCE RULING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITIES 
COMMISSION ON THE QUESTION OF WHAT 
AND HOW MUCH PUBLICITY SHOULD BE 
GIVEN, OR BY LAW IS REQUIRED TO BE 
GIVEN, TO THE FACTS, CIRCUMSTANCES, 
STATEMENTS, AND EVIDENCE OBTAINED BY 
THE COMMISSION IN CONNECTION WITH 
ACCIDENTS AND THE INVESTIGATION 
THEREOF. : 


“ Chapter 128 of the Public Acts of 1911 abolished the 
office of Railroad Commissioners, and the powers and duties 
theretofore vested in the Railroad Commissioners, not incon- 
sistent with said act, were transferred to and continued in the 
Public Utilities Commission, which was created by virtue of 
said act, which act expressly repealed all acts and parts of 
acts inconsistent therewith. 

‘The only statutory provisions relative to the publicity of 
the records and doings of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 
are to be found in Sections 3800 and 3881 of the General 
Statutes, revision of 1902, and the only provisions contained 
in the act creating the Public Utilities Commission are to be 
found in Sections 6 and 18 of Chapter 128 of the Public Acts 
of 1911; 

“‘ Section 3881 of the General Statutes provides that ‘ The 
Commissioners shall keep a record of all communications ad- 
dressed to them officially, of their official acts and proceedings, 
and all facts learned in relation to any casualty, with the names 
of the persons from whom such facts were obtained or by whom 
they may be proved.’ 

“The provisions of this section are substantially the same 
as those contained in Section 6 of Chapter 128 of the Public 
Acts of 1911, which, after reference to the office hours, reads 


17 


as follows: ‘ Ihe Commission shall keep a record of all com- 
munications addressed to it, or to any of its members or em- 
ployees officially, of all its and their official acts and proceed- 
ings, and of all facts learned in relation to any casualty or 
accident, with the names of the persons from whom such facts 
were obtained or by whom they may be proved.’ 

“This act provides that the Commission shall keep a record, 
but does not provide that it shall keep minute details upon 
which such record is based, and does not expressly provide that 
such record shall necessarily be open to the inspection of the 
general public. Section 3881 of the General Statutes provides 
that every railroad company shall notify the Commissioners 
of any accident attended with personal injury and that the 
Railroad Commissioners may inquire into the facts and cir- 
cumstances of such accident. This section further provides 
that ‘The Commissioners shall, without charge, furnish any 
person injured or the friends of any person killed, any informa- 
tion they may have acquired in relation to such accident, 
and the names of the persons from whom the same was obtained 
or by whom the same may be proved.’ 

“As the Act of 1911 creating the Public Utilities Com- 
mission expressly repealed all acts or parts of acts inconsistent 
therewith, Section 3800 of the General Statutes was repealed 
by virtue of the substitution therefor of Sections 17 and 18 of 
Chapter 128 of the Public Acts of 1911. Section 17 of this 
act provides that every public service company shall notify 
the Commission of any accident attended with personal injury 
and involving public safety, ete., and Section 18 provides that 
the Commission shall examine into the causes of and circum- 
stances cohnected with all fatal accidents and also such other 
accidents as in its judgment shall require investigation. 

“ Section 18 further provides that ‘The Commission shall 
make a record of the causes, facts, and circumstances of each 
accident within one month thereafter, and, as a part of such 
record, shall suggest means, if possible, whereby similar ac- 
eidents may be avoided in the future. Such record shall be 
open to public inspection at the office of the Commission and 

2 


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a copy thereof shall be mailed to the company affected thereby.’ 
This section does not provide or require that, the evidence and 
detailed statements obtained by the Commission and. from 
which it makes up such record shall be open to public inspection 
or forwarded to the company. Only the record made by the 
Commission is required to be open to public inspection, a copy 
of which record is to be forwarded to the company affected 
thereby. Such copy so to be forwarded certainly should not 
include a copy of all notes, transcript of evidence, statements, 
photographs, exhibits, etc., which might be obtained by the 
Commission in its investigation. 

“The record made by the Commission should contain a 
comprehensive statement of all the facts, and in view of the 
provisions of Section 6, should contain the names of the persons 
from whom such facts were obtained or by whom they may 
be proved. 

“The law requiring the Commission to make an investiga- 
tion of fatal accidents and of such other accidents as in its 
opinion should be investigated, is not for the purpose of furnish- 
ing facts and data to litigants in a civil action, but for the 
purpose of obtaining information whereby the Commission, 
which has supervisory and regulative powers, may have knowl- 
edge of all the facts and circumstances connected with such 
accidents and make such recommendations, suggestions or 
orders as will prevent the recurrence of such accidents, and 
for the general public safety. | | 

“The only way-in many cases in which oe Commission can 
arrive at the absolute facts and: circumstances in’ connection 
with an accident.is by and with the friendly codperation and 
assistance of the company and of the employees ofthe com- 
pany affected, by such, accident, and in: most cases the Com- 
mission will. be better able to obtain these: absolute facts in 
a quiet and, if mecessary private manner and by private! ex- 
aminations, rather than by'puwhlic hearings: The: statute lays 
down ‘no formule sand prescribes no :rulesasito' how the-in- 
vestigation shallbe-made sand, in requiring the»Commission, to 
make.an-investigation, it»is fairitoiassume that the Commission 


19 


is permitted to exereise its best judgment in each_case as to 
the manner of obtaining the information. 

“ The Commission should have, and we believe the law 
gives to it; practically the same powers relative to the in- 
vestigation of accidents, as is conferred upon coroners in their 
investigations of the causes of death, in which case the State 
has seen the wisdom of giving to coroners! the right to have 
the investigation or any part thereof held in private and the 
right to hear witnesses separately. In many cases this latter 
privilege is a highly important one. 

“After obtaining .the facts and circumstances connected 
with any accident, the Commission is required to make a record 
summarizing or stating what it finds as to the causes, facts, and 
circumstances of such accidents, suggesting means, if possible, 
whereby similar accidents may. be avoided in future, and giving 
the names of the persons from whom such facts were obtained 
or by whom they may be proved. This record, under the law, 
is subject to public inspection. 

** Probably most of these investigations will be made by the 
Chief Engineer and Inspector for the Commission, who should 
be given as broad a latitude as possible in obtaining informa- 
tion in arriving at the causes, facts, and circumstances con- 
nected with an accident, as distinguished from determining the 
civil’ or criminal: liability of any person or "persons, which is — 
no part of this Commission’s duty. Such investigations, for 
the success of the results obtained and particularly of future 
investigations, should not in most cases be held publicly or 
made public.’ (This, however, does not apply to hearings before 
the Commission upon petition and complaints, where’ parties 
are cited to appear, which are and should be public hearings.) . 

“The law does not require the Commission to give’ to the 
general public or to, attorneys or parties interested in private 
litigation, a copy of the stenographie report or transcript of 
evidence, or of notes, exhibits, or other documentary.evidence 
obtained by the Commission in\connéction with the investigar 


*~ tion of: accidents? or the’ privilege of inspecting the same, dnd- 


the Commission™-is justified, having in view the efficient and 


20 


successful performance of its duty, in declining to give such 
details to the general public or to present or prospective 
litigants. The record will give the facts obtained by the Com- 
mission, the source of its information, and the names of the 
persons by whom the same may be proved. 

“Under Section 3800 of the General Statutes the same 
kind and extent of investigation was not required, and the 
discretionary powers therein granted were seldom, if ever, 
exercised, and as stated before, we are of opinion that the 
present law supersedes and by virtue of its substitute pro- 
Visions, repeals Section 3800. 

“‘ Based upon the foregoing reasoning and interpretation of 
the statutes, the Commission, in conference, rules: 

“1. That only the record or finding made by the Com- 
mission of its examination into the causes of and circumstances 
connected with any accident, is a public record and subject to 
public inspection, and not the detailed statements upon which 
such record or finding is predicated. 

2. Any and all notes, transcript of evidence, statements, 
exhibits, photographs, and other matters obtained by the Com- 
mission in connection with any such examination, shall be care- 
fully preserved and kept on file, the same to be available at any 
and all times when necessarily connected with any matter 
pertaining to the enforcement of any orders issued by the Com- 
mission or in which the State or the Commission is directly 
interested. 

_ “3. That examination of witnesses may be made privately 
and separately if, in the opinion of the Commission, such course 
is desirable. 

“Dated at Hartford, Connecticut, this fifth day of De 
cember, 1911. 


PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, 


bray Che Llerge — 


Secretary.” 


Public Acts of 1911 Relative to the Public 
Utilities Commission. 


CHAPTER 128. 


An Act concerning the Regulation and Supervision of Public 
Service Corporations. 


Be wt enacted by the Senate and House of Representatiwes in 
General Assembly convened: 


§ 1. Definitions. The term “commission” when used 
in this act shall mean the public utilities commission hereby 
created and the term “commissioner” shall mean a member 
of said commission. The term “ electric company” when used 
in this act shall include every corporation, company, associa- 
tion, joint stock association, partnership, or person, or lessee 
thereof, owning, leasing, maintaining, operating, managing, or 
controlling poles, wires, conduits, or other fixtures, along public 
highways or streets, for the transmission or distribution of 
electric current for sale for light, heat, or power within this 
state, or engaged in generating electricity to be so transmitted 
or distributed for such purpose. The term “gas company” 
when used in this act shall include every corporation, com- 
pany, association, joint stock association, partnership, or person, 
or lessee thereof, owning, leasing, maintaining, operating, 
managing, or controlling mains, pipes, or other fixtures, in 
public highways or streets, for the transmission or distribution 
of gas for sale for light, heat, or power within this state, or 
engaged in the manufacture of gas to be so transmitted or 
distributed for such purpose. The term “plant” when used 
in this act shall include all real estate, buildings, tracks, pipes, 
mains, poles, wires, and other fixed or stationary construction 
and equipment, wherever located, used in the conduct of the 
business of the company. The term “public service company ” 
when used in this act shall include all common carriers, rail- 
road, street railway, electric, gas, telephone, telegraph, and 
water companies owning, leasing, maintaining, operating, 
managing, or controlling plants, or parts of plants, or equip- 
ment, and all express companies having special privileges on 
railroads or street railways, within this state, but shall not in- 
clude towns, cities, boroughs, or any municipal corporation or 
department thereof, whether separately incorporated or not. 


22 


The term “ railroad company ” when used in this act shall in- 
clude every corporation, company, association, joint stock 
association, partnership, or person, or lessee thereof, owning, 
maintaining, operating, managing, or, controlling any railroad, 
or any cars or other equipment employed thereon or in con- 
nection therewith, for public or general use within this state. 
The term “street railway company” when used in this act shall 
include every corporation, company, association, joint stock 
association, partnership, or person, or lessee thereof, owning, 
maintaining, operating, managing, or controlling any street 
railway, or any cars or other equipment employed thereon or 
in connection therewith, for public or general use within this 
state. The term “ water company” when used in this act shall 
include every corporation, company, association, joint stock 
association, partnership, or person, or lessee thereof, owning, 
maintaining, operating, managing, or controlling any pond, 
lake, reservoir, or distributing plant employed for the purpose 
of supplying water for general domestic use in any town, city, 
or borough, or portion thereof, within this: state. 

§ 2. Appointments and terms. There is hereby  es- 
tablished a public utilities commission, which shall consist of 
three electors. of this state, appointed by the general assembly 
upon. nomination by the governor as hereinafter provided. 
Within fifteen days after the passage of this act the governor 
shall nominate three members of such commission, and shall 
designate the term for which each is nominated. One of said 
commissioners shall serve until the first day of July, 1913, 
one until the first day of July, 1915, and one until the first 
day of July, 1917, and on or before the first day of May; 1913, 
and biennially thereafter, the governor shall nominate and the 
general, assembly. shall. appoint) one member of said public 
utilities commission to.serve for the term of six years from the 
first day of July next succeeding his appointment ‘and until his 
successor is duly appointed and qualified,  Said:commissioners 
shall.be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties. 

§ 3. Vacancies, how filled. If any~vacancy occurs ‘in 
said commission.at any time when the general assembly is not 
in session, the:.governor shall appoint a commissioner to fill 
such vacancy, until the rising of the next)session of the general 
assembly... All other vacancies:shall be filled, for the remainder 
of their respective terms, in thermanner provided in section two. 

§ 4.. Qualifications: and salaries. No: officer, employee, 
attorney; or, agent of. any public. service. company shall bea 
member ‘or employee »of ;said \commission.; ‘Hach member of 
said, commission, shall receive acsalary: of five: thousand dollars 
per annum and his necessary» expenses. \Such' salaries: and 


23 


expenses and the expenses of the commission shall be paid 
monthly from the treasury of the state. 

§ 5. Removals. .Misconduct, material neglect of duty, 
incompetency in the conduct of his office, or active participation 
in political management or campaigns by any commissioner 
shall constitute cause for removal. Such removal shall be made 
only after judgment of the superior court rendered upon written 
complaint of the attorney-general. The attorney-general may 
file such complaint in his discretion, and shall file such com- 
plaint if so directed by the governor, or if so requested in 
writing by one hundred electors of this state. Upon the filing 
of such complaint a rule to show cause shall issue to the ac- 
cused, who may make any proper answer within such time as 
the court may limit, and shall have the right to be heard in 
his own defense and by witnesses and counsel. The procedure 
upon such complaint shall be similar to that in civil actions, 
but such complaint shall be privileged in order of trial, and 
shall be heard as soon as practicable. If, after hearing, the 
court shall find cause for removal, it shall render judgment to 
that effect, and thereupon the office of such commissioner shall 
become vacant; if the court shall find no cause for removal 
it shall dismiss‘ the complaint. 

§ 6. Office and records. The comptroller shall furnish 
the commission an office in the capitol, which it shall: keep open 
during the usual business hours, and at which) it shall-keep 
all its records. The commission shall keep a record of all 
communications addressed to it, or to any of its members or 
employees, officially, of all its and their official acts and pro- 
ceedings, and of all facts learned in relation to any casualty 
or accident, with the names of the persons from whom such 
facts were obtained or by whom they may be proved. 

§ 7. Employees. The commission may appoint a secre- 
tary, and may employ such accountants, clerical assistants, 
engineers, inspectors, experts, and agents as it may require, 
and shall determine their compensation, but the expenditures 
of the commission shall not exceed the specific appropriations 
made, from time to time, for its use, by the general assembly. 
Said secretary shall give a bond to the state in such sum as 
the commission shall determine. 

§ 8. Right of entry. Penalty. The commissioners and 
their employees engaged in the performance of their duties as 
such may, at all reasonable times, enter any premises, buildings, 
cars, or other places belonging to or controlled by any public 
service company, and any person obstructing or in any way 
causing to be obstructed or hindered any member or employee 
of the commission in the performance of his duties as such 


24 


shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars, or imprisoned 
not more than six months, or both. 

§ 9. Examination of witnesses and documents. The 
commission may, in its discretion, delegate its powers, in specific 
cases, to one or more of its members to ascertain the facts and 
report thereon to the commission. The commission, or any 
member thereof, in the performance of its duties or in con- 
nection with any hearing, may summon and examine, under 
oath, such witnesses, and may direct the production of, and 
examine or cause to be produced or examined, such books, 
records, vouchers, memoranda, documents, letters, contracts, or 
other papers in relation to the affairs of any public service com- 
pany as it may find proper, and shall have the same powers in 
reference thereto as are now vested in magistrates taking dep- 
ositions. If any witness objects to testifying or to producing 
any book or paper on the ground that such testimony, book, 
or paper may tend to incriminate him, and the commission, or 
any member thereof, direct such witness to testify or to pro- 
duce such book or paper, and he complies, or he be compelled 
so to do by order of court, he shall not be prosecuted for any 
matter concerning which he has so testified. The fees of wit- 
nesses summoned by the commission, or by any member thereof, 
to appear before it or him, under the provisions of this section, 
and the fees for summoning witnesses, shall be the same as in 
the superior court. All such fees, together with any other 
expenses authorized by this act the method of payment of 
which is not herein otherwise provided, shall, when taxed by 
the commission, be paid by the state, through the secretary of 
said commission, in the same manner as court expenses. 

§ 10. Orders. All decisions, orders, and authorizations 
of the commission shall be in writing and shall specify the 
reasons therefor, shall be filed and kept in the office of the 
commission and recorded in a book kept by it for that purpose, 
and shall be public documents. Said commission may, at any 
time, for due cause shown, upon hearing had after due notice 
to all parties in interest, rescind, reverse, or alter any decision, 
order, or authorization by it made. Written notice of all 
orders, decisions, or authorizations issued by said commission 
shall be given to the company or person affected thereby, by 
personal service upon such company or person or by registered 
mail, as the commission shall determine. 

§ 11. Enforcement of orders. The superior court, on 
application of the commission or of the attorney-general, may 
enforce, by appropriate decree or process, any provision of this 
act or any proper order of the commission rendered in pursuance 
of any such provision. 


25 

§ 12. Transfer of powers of railroad commissioners. 
The office of railroad commissioner is hereby abolished, .and 
all rights, powers, and duties heretofore vested in the railroad 
commissioners and not inconsistent with other provisions of 
this act are hereby transferred to and continued in the public 
utilities commission herein created; and all orders heretofore 
made by said railroad commissioners shall continue in force, 
except as hereafter altered or until reversed or rescinded by 
said public utilities commission; and all books, records, and 
other papers of the railroad commissioners are hereby trans- 
ferred to the public utilities commission. 

§ 13. Duties relative to safety of public and em- 
ployees. The commission shall, so far as is practicable, keep 
fully informed as to the condition of the plant, equipment, 
and manner of operation of all public service companies, in 
so far as the safety of the public and of the employees of such 
companies may be involved, and may order such reasonable 
repairs or alterations in such plant or equipment, or such 
changes in the manner of operation, as may be reasonably 
necessary for public safety or for the health or safety of said 
employees. 

§ 14. Complaints as to dangerous conditions. Any 
person or any town, city, or borough may make complaint, in 
writing, to the commission, of any defects in any portion of 
the plant or equipment of any public service company, or of 
the manner of operating such plant, by reason of which the 
public safety or the health or safety of employees is endangered ; 
and, if he or it so requests, the name of the complainant shall 
not be divulged unless in the opinion of the commission the 
complaint is such that publicity is demanded. 

§ 15. Procedure upon complaint. Upon receipt of 
such complaint the commission shall fix a time and place for 
hearing thereon, and shall give due notice thereof to all parties 
in interest, and shall make such further investigation into the 
alleged conditions as it shall deem necessary. If, upon such 
hearing, the commission shall find the conditions to be dan- 
gerous to public safety or to the safety of employees, it shall 
make such order as may be necessary to remedy the same, and 
shall furnish a copy of such order to the complainant, upon 
request. If the commission finds that the complaint is not 
justified, it shall so notify the complainant in writing, by 
registered letter, specifying the reasons for such finding, and 
shall file a copy of such notification in the office of the com- 
mission. 

§ 16. Compliance with orders. Penalty. Every public 
service company shall comply, immediately, with any order of 


20. 


the commission made in-accordance with the provisions ‘of the 
preceding section, and any company failing to comply with any 
such order shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars 
for each offense, and shall be liable in double damages for any 
injury or damage resulting to any person from such failure. 

§ 17. Companies to report accidents. Every public 
service company shall, in the event of any accident, attended 
with personal injury or involving public safety, which was or 
may have been connected with or due to the operation of its 
plant or equipment, or caused by contact with its wires, notily 
the commission thereof, by telephone or otherwise, as soon as 
may be reasonably possible after the occurrence of such acci- 
dent. If said notice be given otherwise than in writing it shall 
be: confirmed in writing within five days after the occurrence 
of such accident. Any company failing to comply with the 
provisions of this section shall be fined not more than) five 
hundred dollars for each offense. 

§ 18. Duties of commission as to aceidents. The 
commission shall examine into the causes of, and the circum- 
stances connected with, all fatal accidents occurring’ in the 
operation of the plant or equipment of any public service com- 
pany, and such other accidents, whether resulting in personal 
injury or not, as in its judgment, shall require investigation. 
The commission shall make a record of the causes, facts, and cir- 
eumstances of each accident, within one month thereafter, and 
asa part of said record shall suggest means, if possible, whereby 
similar accidents may be avoided in the future. Such record 
shall be open to public inspection at the office of the commis- 
sion and a copy thereof shall be mailed to the company affected 
thereby. 

§ 19. Powers. of commission concerning electricity 
and gas. ‘The office of inspector-general of gas meters and 
illuminating gas is hereby abolished, and the duties heretofore 
invested in said officer Shall hereafter be performed by the 
commission. The commission shall also have power to fix 
the standard ,of illuminating and heating power, purity, and 
quality of gas, to fix the initial efficiency of electric lamps 
furnished by electric companies, and to investigate and make 
orders regarding the pressure at which gas, and the voltage 
at which electricity, shall be distributed. 

§ 20. Inspection of meters. Upon petition of any 
person, and the payment by such person of a fee of one dollar 
for each meter, the commission shall cause to be inspected any 
electric, gas, or water meter used in measuring electricity, gas, 
or water supplied to such petitioner. The company supplying 
electricity, gas, or water through such meter shall reimburse 


27 


the petitioner for said fee if such meter be found to be more 
than two per centum fast, in the case of a gas meter, or four 
per centum fast, in the case of an electric or water meter, 
and shall not again use. such meter until corrected, and ap- 
proved by the commission. The commission shall cause to be 
approved every electric, gas, or water meter in which the error 
does not exceed two per centum for gas meters or four per 
centum for electric or water meters, and shall cause the same 
to be stamped with some suitable device and the date of 
approval. 

§ 21. Establishment of through routes and trans- 
portation. If the lines of any two or more common carriers 
or railroad or street railway companies form, or by the con- 
struction and maintenance of a switch or other suitable con- 
nection could be made to form, a continuous line of transporta- 
tion, the commission, upon hearing, after due public notice, 
may authorize or require the establishment by such companies, 
at joint rates, of through routes or transportation for passengers 
or for such freight or other property as the commission may 
designate; and the commission may, after due hearing, require 
any of such companies to operate, over its lines, cars of other 
equipment delivered by any other of such companies. If such 
companies cannot agree as to the division of rates or the con- 
ditions under which such through routes or transportation shall 
be established or such cars or other equipment operated, the 
commission shall have power, after due hearing, to determine 
and prescribe the proportionate portions of such through rates 
payable to each of such companies necessary to the establish 
ment of such through routes or transportation, or to 8 opera- 
tion of such cars or other equipment. 

§ 22. Plant and equipment to be Paediaial Any 
town, city, or borough within which, or between which and any 
other town, city, or borough in this state, any public service 
company is furnishing service, or any ten patrons of any such 
company, may bring a written petition to the commission al- 
leging that the plant or equipment of such company is in- 
adequate or unsuited to the public need. Thereupon. the 
commission shall fix a time and place for a hearing upon such 
petition, and shall mail notice thereof to the parties in interest 
and give due public notice thereof at least one week prior to 
such hearing. Upon said hearing the commission may, if 
it finds such plant or equipment to be inadequate or unsuited 
to the public need, order and ‘prescribe such plant or equipment 
as shall be adequate and suitable, and fix a time within which 
said company shall construct such plant or obtain such equip- 
ment. It shall thereupon be the duty of such company to 


28 


construct such plant or obtain such equipment within the time 
so fixed. 

§ 23. Rates and service affecting many persons. 
Any town, city, or borough within which, or between which and 
any other town, city, or borough in this state, any public service 
company is furnishing service, or any ten patrons of any such 
company, or any such company furnishing service in accordance 
with, or at rates prescribed by, an order of the commission, may 
bring a written petition to the commission alleging that the 
rates or charges made by such company or prescribed by the 
commission are unreasonable, or that the service furnished by 
such company is inadequate to, or the service ordered by the 
commission exceeds, public necessity and convenience. There- 
upon the commission shall fix a time and place for a hearing 
upon such petition, and shall mail notice thereof to the parties 
in interest and give due public notice thereof at least one 
week prior to such hearing. Upon said hearing the commission 
may, if it finds such rates and charges to be unreasonable, or 
such service to be inadequate or excessive, determine and pre- 
scribe an adequate service to be thereafter furnished or just 
and reasonable maximum rates and charges to be thereafter 
made by such company, and such company shall thereafter 
furnish the service so prescribed, and shall not thereafter de- . 
mand any rate or charge in excess of the maximum rate or 
charge so prescribed. 

§ 24. Rates and service affecting a single person. 
If any water, gas, electric, or telephone company shall un- 
reasonably fail or refuse to furnish adequate service at reason- 
able rates to any person within the territorial limits within 
which such company has, by its charter, authority to furnish 
such service, such person may bring his written petition to the 
commission alleging such failure or refusal. Thereupon the 
commission shall fix a time and place for a hearing upon such 
petition, and shall mail notice thereof to the parties in interest 
at least one week prior to such hearing. Upon said hearing 
the commission may, if it finds that such company has un- 
reasonably failed or refused to furnish such person with 
adequate service at reasonable rates, prescribe the service to be 
furnished by such company to such person, and the conditions 
under which, and maximum rates or charges at which, such 
service shall be furnished. -Such company shall thereafter 
furnish such service to such person in accordance with the con- 
ditions so prescribed, and shall not thereafter demand or collect 
any rate or charge for such service in excess of the maximum 
rate or charge so prescribed. 


29 


§ 25. Returns required from public service com- 
panies. ‘The commission shall annually, on or before the 
thirtieth day of June, furnish to every public service com- 
pany duplicate blanks for reports, in such form as the com- 
mission may prescribe; provided, that such blanks for reports 
to be furnished by companies engaged in interstate commerce 
shall be in the form, if any, required by the interstate com- 
merce commission. All reports shall be for the year ending 
on the thirtieth day of June. Every such company receiving 
such blank forms shall return one of them to the commission 
on or before the fifteenth day of September next following, 
with all questions therein fully answered. Such report shall’ 
be signed and sworn to by the president or vice-president and 
treasurer of the company, or by a majority of the trustees or 
receivers, making the same. Every company which shall re- 
fuse or neglect to make such report shall forfeit to the state 
twenty-five dollars for each day of such neglect or refusal, 
and the commission shall report such forfeiture to the state 
treasurer, who shall collect the same. 

§ 26. Contents and correction of returns. Every 
public service company shall make its annual reports strictly 
according to the forms provided, and if it shall find it im- 
practicable to answer all the items in detail as required it 
shall state in its report the reasons why such details cannot 
be given; but no company shall be excused from giving such 
details for the reason that it does not keep its accounts in 
such manner as will enable it to do so. When any such re- 
port seems to the commission defective or erroneous it may 
notify the company making the same, and require the amend- 
ment of such report within fifteen days from the time of 
giving such notice, under the same penalty as provided for 
refusing or neglecting to make such report; and the commis- 
sion may examine the officers, agents, and employees, books, 
records, accounts, vouchers, plant, and equipment of such 
company, and may correct such items in such report as, upon 
such examination, the commission may find ought to be 
corrected. 

§ 27. Penalty for false returns, et cetera. Every 
person who shall wilfully make any false return or report 
to the commission, or to any member thereof, or to any agent 
or any employee acting therefor, or who shall testify or affirm 
falsely to any material fact in any matter wherein an oath 
or affirmation is required or authorized, or who shall make 
any false entry or memorandum upon any account, book, 
paper, record, report, or statement of any company, or who 
shall wilfully destroy, mutilate, alter, or by any other means 


30 


or device falsify or destroy the record of any such account, 
book, paper, record, report, or statement, with the intent to 
mislead or deceive the commission, or any member thereof, 
or any agent or employee acting therefor, or who shall wil- 
fully obstruct or hinder the commission, or any of its members, 
agents, or employees, in the making of any examination of 
the accounts, affairs, or condition of any company, and any 
person who, with like intent, aids or abets another in any 
of the acts hereinbefore set forth, shall be fined not more 
than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five 
years, or both. 

§ 28. Annual reports to governor. ‘The commission 
shall render, on or before the first day of December in each 
year, a report to the governor, stating the general conduct 
and financial condition of all public service companies as 
ascertained by the commission from the returns of the com- 
panies and examinations by the commission, together with 
such other facts and recommendations as, in the opinion of 
the commission, will increase the public safety or be for the 
public interest; together with its reasons for such recom- 
mendations. 

§ 29. Appeals to superior court. Any company, 
town, city, borough, corporation, or person aggrieved by any 
order, authorization, or decision of the commission in any 
matter to which he or it was or ought to have been made a 
party may appeal therefrom to the superior court, within 
fifteen days after the filing of such order, authorization, or 
decision; but said commission may extend the time for the 
filing of such appeal for an additional period of not more 
than fifteen days. ‘The party so appealing shall give bond 
to the state, with sufficient surety, for the benefit of the ad- 
verse party, in such sum as said commission shall fix, to 
pay all costs in case he or it fails to sustain such appeal. 

§ 30. Venue. Said appeal shall be brought in the 
county in which is located the matter, or any portion thereof, 
concerning which such order, authorization, or decision was 
made, or, if such order, authorization, or decision did. not 
pertain to any such localized matter, then such appeal shall 
be brought in Hartford county. No such appeal shall abate 
by reason of any error of venue, but such appeal may be 
transferred at any time, on motion of any party or by order 
of the court, to the proper venue. It shall be the duty of 
the attorney-general to appear for and represent the com- 
mission in all proceedings had upon any such appeal. 

§ 31. Procedure. Questions Reviewep. Hach appeal 
shall be brought by a complaint in writing, stating fully the 


31 


reasons therefor, with a proper citation, signed by competent 
authority, to all parties to said proceedings having an interest 
adverse to the appellant, and shall be served upon such parties 
at least twelve days before the return day. Such appeals shall 
be brought to the next return day of said court after the 
filing of said appeal, if there be sufficient time for giving the 
notice provided for by this act, otherwise to the return day 
next but one after such filing. Said court shall hear such 
appeal and re-examine the question of the legality of the order, 
authorization, or decision appealed from, and the propriety and 
expediency of such order, authorization, or decision, in so far 
as said court may properly, have cognizance of such subject, 
either by itself or a committee, and shall proceed thereon in 
the same manner as upon complaints for equitable relief; and 
the decision of such court, subject, however, to review on 
appeal to the supreme court of errors on questions of law, 
shall be final and conclusive upon the parties. 

§ 32. Notice of appeal when parties are numerous. 
When the persons who should otherwise be made parties to 
such appeal are so numerous that it would be impracticable 
or unreasonably expensive to. make them all parties by per- 
sonal service, the court to which such appeal is taken, or, if 
said court is not in session, any judge of the superior court, 
may order notice of such appeal to be given, by some method 
other than by personal service, to such of the parties as said 
court or judge shall deem just and equitable, and notice so 
given shall operate to bind the interests of such parties on 
such appeal as fully as if personal service had been made upon 
said parties. : 

§ 33. When appeal will suspend operation of order. 
Every such appeal shall be a supersedeas of the order, author- 
ization, or decision appealed from, except as otherwise provided 
by statute; provided, that the court to which any such appeal 
is brought, or, if such court is not in session, any judge of 
the superior court, may at any time order that such appeal 
shall not so operate if, in the opinion of such court or judge, 
the appeal is brought for purposes of delay, or if justice, or 
equity, or public safety, or expediency shall so require; or 
such court or judge may order that such appeal shall so operate 
only upon compliance by the parties, or any of them, with 
such terms or conditions as such court or judge may determine. 

§ 34. Rights and duties of trustees and receivers. 
When any company shall be operated by a trustee or receiver 
such trustee or receiver shall have all the powers, and shall 
be subject to all the duties, obligations, and penalties which 
such company would otherwise have or to which it would be 


32 


subject under the provisions of this act, except in so far as 
the same may be inconsistent with the rights, duties, or obli- 
gations of such trustee or receiver as an officer of the court 
appointing him. 

§ 35. General penalty. Every corporation, its officers, 
agents, and employees, shall obey, observe, and comply with 
every order made by the commission by virtue of this act so 
long as the same shall remain in force. Any such corporation, 
or any officer, agent, or employee thereof, who fails or neglects 
to obey or comply with any such order, or any provision of 
this act for which no other penalty is prescribed, shall be fined 
not more than five thousand dollars for each offense. Each 
distinct violation of such order, or of this act, shall be a 
separate offense, and in cases of a continued violation each 
day thereof shall be deemed a separate offense. 

§ 36. Act not to affect labor contracts. Nothing in 
this act shall be construed to authorize the commission to inter- 
fere in any manner with contracts between public service com- 
panies and their employees. 

§ 37. Act to be amendatory of charters. The pro- 
visions of this act shall be deemed to be amendatory of all 
charters of public service companies chartered by, or organized 
under the laws of, this state and shall repeal all powers and 
limitations in any such charters in so far as the same are 
inconsistent herewith; and all powers and privileges conferred, 
and all duties and obligations imposed, upon such companies 
by the provisions of this act are conferred or imposed upon 
such companies in the same manner and to the same extent 
as if the provisions of this act were parts of the charters of 
such companies. 

§ 38. Repeal. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent 
herewith are hereby repealed. 

§ 39. Act, when operative. This act shall take effect 
sixty days after its passage, except the provision relating to 
the appointment of commissioners, which provision shall take 
effect from the passage of this act. 


33 


CHAPTER 196. 


An Act amending an Act Concerning the Removal of Grade 
Crossings. 


Be tt enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Assembly convened: 


Section 38713 of the general statutes is hereby amended to 
read as follows: The selectmen of any town, the mayor and 
common council of any city, the warden and burgesses of any 
borough, within which a highway crosses or is crossed by a rail- 
road, or the directors of any railroad company whose road crosses 
or is crossed by a highway, may bring their petition in writing 
to the public utilities commission, alleging that public safety 
requires an alteration in such crossing, its approaches, the 
method of crossing, the location of the highway or crossing, the 
closing of a highway crossing and the substitution of another 
therefor, not at grade, or the removal of obstructions to the sight 
at such crossing, and praying that the same may be ordered; 
whereupon said commission shall appoint a time and place for 
hearing the petition, and shall give such notice thereof to such 
petitioners, the company, the municipality or municipalities in 
which such crossing is situated, and the owners of the land ad- 
joining such crossing and adjoining that part of the highway 
to be changed in grade, as it shall judge reasonable; and after 
such notice and hearing said commission shall determine what 
alterations or removals, if any, shall be made and by whom made. 
If such petition is brought by the directors of a railroad com- 
pany, or in behalf of any such company, said commission shall 
order the expense of such alterations or removals, including the 
damages to any person whose land is taken, and the special 
damages which the owner of any land adjoining the public high- 
way shall sustain by reason of any such change in the grade of 
such highway, to be paid by the company owning or operating 
the railroad in whose behalf the petition is brought ; and in 
case such petition is brought by the selectmen of any town, the 
mayor and common council of anyxcity, or the warden and 
burgesses of any borough, it may, if the highway affected by 
such determination was in existence when the railroad was con- 
structed over it at grade, or if the layout of the highway was 
changed for the benefit of the railroad after the layout of the 


B44 

railroad, order an amount not exceeding one-quarter of the whole 
expense of such alteration or removal, including the ‘damages, 
as aforesaid, to be paid by the town, city, or borough in whose 
behalf the petition is brought, and the remainder of the expense 
shall be paid by the company owning or operating the road which 
crosses such public highway; if, however, the highway affected 
by such last-mentioned order has been constructed since the rail- 
road which it crosses at grade, said commission may order an 
amount not exceeding one-half of the whole expense of such 
alteration or removal, including the damages, as aforesaid, to 
be paid by the town, city, or borough in whose behalf the appli- 
cation is brought, and the remainder of the expense shall be 
paid by the company owning or operating the road which crosses 
such public highway. The directors of every company which 
operates a railroad in this state shall remove or apply for the 
removal of at least one grade crossing each year for every fifty 
miles of road operated by it in this state, which crossings so to 
be removed shall be those which in the opinion of said directors 
are among the most dangerous upon the lines operated by it; 
and if the directors of any railroad company fail so to do, said 
commission shall, if in its opinion the financial condition of the 
company will warrant, order such crossing or crossings removed 
as in its opinion said directors should have applied for the re- 
moval of under the above provisions, and said commission in so 
doing shall proceed in all respects as if the said directors had 
voluntarily applied therefor. 


CHAPTER 207. 


An Act amending an Act concerning Highway Bridges crossed 
by Street Railways. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Assembly convened: 


§ 1. Section one of chapter 233 of the public acts of 1909 
is hereby amended to read as follows: Whenever any highway 
bridge over which a street railway is operated shall become un- 
safe for public travel, the company operating such railway shall 
pay the whole expense of repairing, strengthening, or recon- 
structing such bridge, if such bridge would be safe for public 
travel if such railway were not operated over it; but if a re- 
construction of such bridge or the construction of a new bridge 
is required for any other cause or if such bridge would be un- 
safe for public travel if such railway were not operated over it, 


35 


then so much of the expense of repairing, strengthening, con- 
structing, or reconstructing such bridge as may be equitable 
shall be paid by the company operating such railway. In the 
event of any disagreement between such railway company and 
the municipality or municipalities bound by law to maintain any 
such bridge, as to the necessity of any repair or reconstruction 
thereof, or as to the character of such repair or reconstruction, 
or as to the apportionment of the expense of such repair or 
reconstruction, the public utilities commission, upon application 
of any party in interest, and after due hearing, shall, subject 
to the provisions of section 3832 of the general statutes, make 
such orders as it shall deem necessary, in the interest of public 
safety, for the repair, strengthening, or reconstruction of such 
bridge, and shall determine, in accordance with the principle 
herein stated, the portion of the expense of such repair, strength- 
ening, or reconstruction which shall be borne by such railway 
company. 

§ 2. The provisions of this act shall not apply to the re- 
pairing, strengthening, constructing, or reconstructing of any 
bridge concerning which any contract exists between any street 
railway company and any municipality or concerning which any 
condition has been imposed upon any street railway company 
during the continuance of such contract. 


CHAPTER 230. 


An Act concerning the Powers of the Public Utilities Commis- 
sion concerning Poles and Wires. 


Be «wt enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Assembly convened: 


§ 1. The public utilities commission shall have power, after 
notice to the corporations interested and public hearing, to re- 
quire any public service corporation or corporations maintaining 
a line or lines of poles and wires in this state to change the loca- 
tion of such poles and wires in the public highways whenever 
public convenience or necessity requires such change and, in case 
two or more corporations are using or maintaining lines of poles 
or wires in the same street, to require the wires of such corpora- 
tions to be strung upon one or more lines of poles to be owned 
and maintained by the corporations using the same as said com- 
mission shall determine. 


36. 


§ 2. Any corporation failing to comply with any such order 
shall be liable to the penalties provided in section thirty-five of 
chapter 128 of the public acts of 1911. | 


CHAPTER 266. 


An Act concerning the Formation or Alteration of Telephone 
Exchanges. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Assembly convened: 


Section twenty-four of chapter 128 of the public acts of 1911, 
requiring a telephone company to furnish adequate service at 
reasonable rates, shall be so construed as to include telephone 
exchange areas. 


CHAPTER 288. 
An Act concerning Commercial Sidetracks. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatwes im 
General Assembly convened: 


§ 1. The public utilities commission is empowered, on the 
application, in writing, of the selectmen of any town, the mayor 
and common council of any city, or the warden and burgesses 
of any borough, to make all necessary orders concerning the 
laying of commercial or industrial sidetrack or sidetracks, at 
grade, upon or across any highway within the limits of such 
town, city, or borough. 

§ 2. The location of all sidetracks heretofore laid across 
any highway at grade, under orders of the railroad commis- 
sioners made upon application of the mayor of any city, the 
selectmen of any town, or the warden of any borough, purporting 
to be authorized by section 3892 of the general statutes, is hereby 
validated. 

§ 3. This act shall take effect from its passage. 








